Old Town Chinatown is known in Portland primarily as a home for social service providers, and perhaps for the nightclubs in its entertainment district, but certainly not as a likely candidate for an out-of-town tech company to open a flashy outpost.

And for its challenges, outlined in an Oregonian series this week, Old Town Chinatown it has many of the amenities companies like Airbnb seek: easy access to transit, recreation and the city’s east side. It’s also home to a buildings that reflect Portland’s industrial past, a juxtaposition tech firms can't seem to resist.

“First Avenue to Naito has really had a revitalization,” said Trevor Kafoury of brokerage CBRE, who marketed the building. “You go west and it’s definitely a different vibe until you get to the Pearl District.”

With just its 160 initial employees — and an option to expand within the same building — Airbnb will be one of the largest private employers in the district.

“You’re going to have a lot more people” in the district, Kafoury said. “Hopefully there will be demand for more services down there, and we’ll see more tenants follow. As the Pearl gets more expensive, Old Town is going to be a nice alternative.”

Jeff Falconer of Capacity Commercial Group represented Airbnb in its search. Falconer and Kafoury both say interest in Portland from outside tech firms is only growing.

"It was only a matter of time before companies like Airbnb, Salesforce.com and others came to Portland, if only for the dramatically reduced costs of real estate compared to San Francisco and Seattle," Falconer said.